Calaveras Genealogical Society Spring Seminar, featuring Janice M. Sellers April 18, 2015 – 9:50 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. At the Family History Center, 400 Bret Harte Road, Murphys, CA 9:15 10:00 11:10 12:10 12:40 1:50 Doors open/Registration 9:50 Welcome Reconstructing a Family When You Start with Almost Nothing: A Case Study. Often a researcher starts with little information. This case study demonstrates techniques and sources that enabled reconstruction of seven generations of a family, although the search began with only the slimmest of information: a town name, one person's last name, a married woman's first name, and a third person's occupation. Get Me to the Church on Time: Finding Religious Records. Religious records are often important substitutes when vital records are lost or never existed, but they also add depth to our understanding of our ancestors. Beyond the expected birth, marriage, and death records, religious records can include membership lists, missionary records, financial records, disciplinary actions, and more. Lunch (included) Where There’s a Will: Probate Records Can Prove Family Connections. Records created when a person dies can be very useful for genealogists, as they often describe family relationships, but there are pitfalls also. This class will discuss all estate records and also touch on guardianship records. They Wouldn’t Put It on the Web If They Didn’t Want Me to Use It: Copyright Issues for Genealogy. In the same sentence, one can hear a modern day genealogist argue that no one can copyright “her family” and then that no one else has the right to post or print information on her family because she did all the research. This presentation is an effort to help you decipher the truth of copyright and also explore the ethical issues that surround family research. “Genealogy is like a jigsaw puzzle, but you don't have the box top, so you don't know what the picture is supposed to look like. As you start putting the puzzle together, you realize some pieces are missing, and eventually you figure out that some of the pieces you started with don't actually belong to this puzzle. I'll help you discover the right pieces for your puzzle and assemble them into a picture of your family.” Janice M. Sellers Janice is a professional genealogist specializing in Jewish, forensic, and newspaper research. She has researched her own family for 35 years and conducted research for others for 10 years. She’s editor of three genealogy journals, including those of the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society and the African American Genealogical Society of Northern California, serves on the boards of both, as well as the California State Genealogical Alliance. She has been on the staff of the Oakland Regional Family History Center since 2000. Her academic background is in foreign languages and computers, and she has worked as an editor, indexer, and translator for more than twenty-five years. Her genealogy blog is online at http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com. COST: Pre-Registration CGS Members $25, Non-Members $30; At-the-door: $30 For pre-registration, checks must be received no later than April 16. INCLUDES LUNCH Sandwich, chips, cookie & water. Reserve sandwich choice on the registration form below: (T) turkey, (H) ham, or (V) vegetarian. For more information, call Linda at 209-754-1325 or visit our website at: www.calaverasgenealogy.com Janice M. Sellers / CGS 2015 Spring Seminar PRE-REGISTRATION Name(s): ________________________________________________________________________________________ Phone: __________________________________Email address: __________________________________________ Address: ________________________________________________________________________________________ Sandwich preference: (check one/person): ______Turkey ______Ham ______Vegetarian # Members:______ # Non-members______ Amount enclosed: $________CGS: A Jump Into the Past Detach and mail with check for registration fee to: Calaveras Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 184, Angels Camp, CA 95222